Like Shooting Stars
by MercedesCarello
Summary: (Prequel story to The Jaguar, concerning Mercedes' parents - not required reading in order to enjoy.) The year is 833, before the fall of Shiganshina. Leon and Amaranta live and raise their daughter outside the safety of the Walls: there they supply the Survey Corps with horses by day and hunt Titans - without the help of gear - by night, driven by the urge to explore the world.
1. Chapter 1: One Summer's Night

**A Note from the Author: Welcome! This is a prequel story to my story _The Jaguar_, and concerns Mercedes' parents and the last night they saw her. You don't need to have read _The Jaguar_ in order to enjoy this! It'll probably only be a couple of chapters long. It's set in the days before Wall Maria was lost. Thoughts welcome! Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 1: One Summer's Night<br>**_Year: 833_

One after the other, Amaranta and Léon kissed the warm forehead of their sleeping daughter, curled in her bed bathed in moonlight coming through the window above her. A pleasant breeze drifted over the windowsill and brushed through her inky curls. It made the little windchime her grandfather had made her ring softly.

"Always so warm," Léon remarked with a smile as they retreated to the doorway, looking at her a moment more.

"No fever, promise," his wife said. Her hand caressed his shoulder as she left the room. "Come on. The sooner we leave, the sooner we're back with her. I'll ready the horses, you grab the rifles. I want to be back with my baby before she grows another inch."

Léon stared at Mercedes, lingering as he always did, committing to memory her apple of a face, with its pinched nose and the lips she received from his wife turned down into an endearing scowl. Every time they wished her goodnight while she slept before they left her for a night, or two, or three, on their runs or their explorations or hunts, it was like looking at a new child – familiar as his own skin but growing too quickly for his taste. How long did they have before she was riding her own horse, seeking her own stars?

"Sweet dreams, song of my heart," he whispered. "We'll be back soon."

He tore himself away, pulling the door softly to behind him. His mother, Julia, met him in the hall already dressed for the night in her robe, her graying curly hair wild about her shoulders. Her arms were folded, making her tiny frame look even more compact, and her face was stern.

Reading her thoughts, Léon said, "We'll be back as quick as we can." He passed her on his way down the hall to the stairs.

She followed more slowly on account of her limp. "I know. But you just got back. I've already lost your brothers, your father… And you're both so young, still. Running a colt or two to a Scouting Legion base camp is one thing, but going out there to hunt Titans on your own is foolish."

"We know what we're doing, _madré_," he said. Despite her words he waited for her and helped her down the stairs.

"Doesn't mean it's not foolish," Julia said. "Mercedes is five. What kind of example is this setting for her? How am I to answer her when she asks if you've been eaten? She's smart – too smart. She's figuring out our world."

"I trust you'd figure something out." In the foyer he found his light canvas jacket waiting for him in its usual spot slung over a chair, and tugged it on. "And let her be smart." He took four rifles out of their brackets on the wall and carried them cradled in his arms.

She walked him to the open front door that was letting in the cool night air and the distant sound of their dog barking. "What else did you think I'd do? She's the only one besides me with any sense in this house and someone will have to inherit my library when I'm dead because it won't be you or 'Mara. Idiots."

Léon stood on the threshold and smiled at her. "We'll be quick. Quick like shooting stars." He leaned over and pecked her on the cheek, which she reluctantly returned. He stepped out of the house onto the cobbles he'd laid just that spring.

"Be careful, both of you."

"Remember, if in five days –"

"Shut up. Get out of my sight you hellion." Julia flailed an arm in his direction and immediately turned away back into the house.

"But I was always your favorite hellion," he called after her.

"No, shut up. Your father was. You're second. Now shoo."

Léon grinned and watched her shadow disappear into the warm light of the doorway, gaping like the window of a lantern. His gaze passed over the modest home that he, his father, four brothers and wife had built with their own hands. It was a relatively small home serving as a ranch, with twenty enclosed acres on land cleared in a forest outside the Walls and the freedom to more. Their stables could hold twenty horses, though right now after the delivery two days ago, they only had twelve adults and three foals, one of the latter being promised for Mercedes. They had a strategic location for their main patrons, the Scouting Legion, even if the safety of the Walls was several days' ride away. In his private, prouder moments, Léon referred to it as the House of Heaven.

Only in the last couple of years since Mercedes was born had they felt as though their home was finally complete. Far from being satisfying, though, it had been a curse to the personalities of his wife and himself. They liked to be kept busy. They liked projects, activities, missions. Julia often remarked that they should have channeled that energy into the military rather than raising and breeding horses, but it wasn't their calling. Their spirits were too free. Besides, the military had taken too many from their family – the three of them, and now Mercedes, were the only ones left.

"Léon," Amaranta called.

He quickened his steps to the stables, where she was riding her horse out into the yard, his in tow. Saddled and ready, it made 'Mara's height even more impressive and leant a regal bearing that suited her. His partner in crime, his better half, his beautiful wife. It made a content smile grow on his face to think how lucky he was.

"What're you looking at, you foolish handsome man?" she teased as she paced up beside him.

The horses came to a stop; he propped the rifles on the ground and held the tips of their barrels with one hand. He ran his free hand up and down her thigh and her hand caressed his in return. "Funny, my mother just called us that." They chuckled. His hand went a little higher, a little more inside. "Are you sure you don't want to work on a son tonight, instead?"

'Mara leaned over and down to him to put her lips just in front of his – so close he could almost taste her – and the strengthening summer breeze whipped her short, dark hair over her eyes like a veil. "As I said, my love, the sooner we go, the sooner we get back."

The two grinned at each other. 'Mara gave him a short kiss and then leaned back upright. Léon slotted two rifles into their holsters on her saddle, and then rounded her to his own horse to do the same. He pulled himself up into the saddle. Before leaving the yard they checked the security of their rifles and rounds, rope, and short swords.

"Ready?"

"Ready. Let's go find an ocean for 'Cee, this time," 'Mara said.

"How about a jaguar?"

"Sure, or a mountain."

"A river of stars!"

"Enough pearls to buy the capital!"

"Enough diamonds!"

"Maybe the Titans can tell us the secret to catching the sun. Let's give her the sun."

"Let's."

As they passed through the ribbon of light cast by the door into the darkness, they glanced up at their daughter's window, with its curtains waving goodbye in her stead.


	2. Chapter 2: What Souls Are Made Of

**Chapter 2: What Souls Are Made Of**

Amaranta brought her horse up beside her husband's on the edge of the treeline. In front of them stretched a moderate slope of plains, higher on their right and descending to their left. Aside from their forest that contained their ranch, there wasn't another for some distance. The moonlight turned the wildly-waving grass into a sheet of undulating metallic silk, but they were focused on where the plains grew rocky outcroppings and suddenly dipped into the recess of a quarry, like something huge had come along and taken a bite out of the land.

"There they are," she whispered.

The small mining village that had nestled next to the quarry was surrounded by an idle crowd of Titans, varying in height from four meters to twelve – the effect was as though the top of a cave had been ripped off, leaving only stalagmites.

"I count thirteen," Léon said.

'Mara scanned them herself. "Confirmed."

After a pause, Léon said, "They must have feasted on the villagers during the day, and not been done before nightfall. No one's likely to be left alive." She watched him bow his head and shake it, causing his dark curls to dance. "Poor souls. They shouldn't have built out here in the open."

"They had hope. They're no different from us," 'Mara said, reaching across to grip his hand. She turned back to the scene and sighed, withdrawing. "We can't take all thirteen, even while they're idle. It's only been about five hours since dusk and there are too many large ones for them all to be completely docile as a result."

She remembered how they'd found that out the hard way, after encountering a similar group and thinking they were all asleep, only to find that the two eight-meters lashed out and nearly trampled them. She and Léon had been more cautious since then, taking the time to experiment and study close to cover. Without the help of the 3D maneuvering gear that the military possessed, their risks had to be calculated.

"Perhaps we should forgo a hunt for tonight, and focus on charting new territory," Léon suggested.

'Mara pressed a hand to her forehead to hold back her cropped hair as the wind blew in from the plains, bringing with it the brassy smell of blood. With narrowed eyes she watched the village for a few moments more, letting her instinct divine from it. There was something more unsettling than normal about what lay before them.

"Darling," she began quietly. "How large was the village, would you say, when we visited? That was about a month ago. How many people?"

"Does it matter, my love?" he asked. His horse shifted feet and snorted.

"Please humor me."

His silvery-blue eyes glittered when he gave her a ghost of a smile. He'd indulge her anything, she knew. Like she trusted his more rational mind, he trusted her gut. "Only a dozen people or so, I'd say. Not very large at all."

"That's what I remember, too. One of the women had just had her own babe – I was going to bring her some of Mercedes' old clothes."

When she was quiet, he prompted, "What is it?"

'Mara frowned. Though it felt odd to be saying it, she could never keep anything from him – even her strangest, most unfounded thoughts. "I just find it interesting that there were around a dozen villagers, and now there are around a dozen Titans here. It doesn't seem…by chance." It was her turn to shake her head. "I know that sounds stupid."

"No, it just sounds new," Léon assured her. "It'll be something for us to watch for on our travels. Your intuition hasn't steered us wrong yet."

She managed a smile for him despite the chill that was running up her spine, even through the brocade of her jacket. "And your rationale has kept us safe, so yes, let's explore rather than hunt, tonight."

'Mara let Léon lead, and as they followed the treeline farther west she watched the village and its unmoving sentinels of Titans until the hillside had hidden them again. The nerves she had felt dissipated.

It had been a Carello family decision to live outside the Walls, and with 'Mara having lost her parents as a teenager it was an easy move for her. She had been friends with his family – being the only other family in the area descended from the ancient cultural group known as Mediterranean – and in particular his older brother, Alejandro. But she and Léon had quickly become sweethearts and were married as soon as they were both of age. That was almost fifteen years ago, now, and the last ten that they'd sent out here had been filled with the three things that gave her a reason to live: exploration, danger, and love.

They had been going on these expeditions of their own for about eight years, though they had to pause when Mercedes was born; her mother-in-law often joked that it was riding her horse that had made 'Mara's water break a little early, for she had insisted on accompanying Léon until very late in her pregnancy. Though Léon had tried to stop her, it did little good. Like him, she loved the mission they had set for themselves, the thrill of hunting a Titan or two under the cover of night, and all the things they'd seen together that served as inspiration for Mercedes' bedtime stories.

If they were in the mood for a hunt, they may be gone only a night, two at most. They did it for, dare she say it, fun. It was a thrill, a challenge. It also helped them glean knowledge that they could pass on to the Scouting Legion along with the horses they gifted them. However, their purely-exploratory trips – done for the same reasons – took longer. They'd had to become expert riders in order to both keep good time and survive.

"…'Mara?"

'Mara came back to reality at Léon's voice. "Sorry. What is it?"

"I might ask you the same thing!" he laughed, looking over his shoulder at her. It made her heart beat faster just to look at him – like no time had passed between here, now, and the day they first kissed.

She beamed at him. "Just recalling the reasons I love you," she answered.

He made a mock-agitated noise and turned back around, "You!" he said. She knew he was concealing one of the blushes she loved so much and took every opportunity to catch him in. "_I was saying_," he continued, "I think I know of a new place to look for the jaguar. It'll make our trip a longer one, though."

'Mara thought of their daughter curled like a kitten in her bed. The idea of being able to reveal to her that the jaguars of her grandmother's stories were real was irresistible. All they had was a painting done by her uncle based on those stories and a couple of old forbidden books, and Mercedes was beginning to accuse the grown-ups of fooling her.

"Then let's take the chance. As long as we're back in five days," she warned.

"Before she grows another inch, I know."


	3. Chapter 3: Washing Away

**Chapter 3: Washing Away**

It was stupid-o'clock when Julia was jolted awake by Mercedes jumping on her bed, screaming, "Granna! Granna! Good morning!"

After the initial shock passed, Julia groaned. The first rays of the sun were coming in through her window and the birds were singing, but it still felt like the ass-crack of dawn to her. Mercedes began shaking her.

Julia pulled her blanket higher. "Child, why won't you let me sleep? You know your Granna likes to –"

"Can I have my bath? I really want my bath."

"Fine, fine," Julia conceded, waving her away. "Go downstairs. I'll be there in a minute," she grumbled, and then sat up to call after her more loudly, "And don't try starting the stove yourself this time!"

"Okay!" came the reply as the little girl sped out of the room, her feet heavy down the hall.

Julia propped herself up on one elbow and rubbed her eyes. She had been a morning person, once. Five sons in close succession and a husband who loved practical jokes soon took that out of her, as did turning sixty a few months ago. She had long had her fill of parenting and yet here she was, essentially doing just that for the daughter of her only living son and his wife while they gallivanted about the countryside.

_My only living son. Our only living son – imagine that, Esteban,_ she thought as she forced herself to sit up. She looked to her right and the empty side of the bed was still as gaping as the maw of a Titan, even after four years. Her hand crept out from her body, smoothing the blanket as it traveled to the dent in the mattress. Not long after her husband…had passed, Julia decided that loss felt like the blanket under her palm and the cold space it covered that would never again be warmed.

"Granna!" came Mercedes' singsong voice from downstairs, halting the catch that was developing in Julia's throat.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming," she called back. She hauled herself out of bed and threw on her robe, followed by tying her copious locks of thick, silvering hair in a knot on top of her head with the help of what had once been a cloth measuring ribbon, just to get it out of the way. On her way out of the bedroom she grabbed a corked milk bottle that she'd brought from the city when they moved; only now, instead of milk it was filled with a hair conditioner concoction she made out of honey, plum oil, and a couple of plant extracts. She would grab the soap when she reached the bathroom on her way down.

As Julia carefully made her way downstairs one step at a time, she reflected that these past years she'd been alone to look after Mercedes while her parents were gone meant she had had less time for her 'tinkering', as Léon liked to call it. Her mind couldn't be quiet, and neither could her hands. Esteban had always remarked that she had the rare pairing of practicality and mental acuity, and made them play nice together. It was often her resourcefulness that had meant their survival and she never let any of them forget it. But ever since her twenties, when she had contributed toward improving the maneuver gear that the military now used, she had found it difficult to confine her inventions and skills to mundane tasks.

Yet it was hard to focus on anything complex and grand with a tomboyish, rambunctious five year-old in an eight-bedroom house.

Julia shuffled into the kitchen and stifled a yawn. She blinked as she watched Mercedes stoking the embers of their large, centrally-placed and open-sided fireplace-come-stove. "I thought I told you not to do that by yourself," she said calmly. While impressed and not truly concerned, knowing that Mercedes was perfectly capable of safely starting a fire, she had to at least pretend to adhere to her parents' wishes.

"I won't tell Momma or Daddy," she replied, jerking upright at her grandmother's voice.

"That doesn't make it okay. It won't be easy to explain if you burn all your hair off." Julia set the bar of soap and the bottle of conditioner on the kitchen table, and moved toward the washtub in the corner. Mercedes trailed at her heel and helped her drag it over close to the fire, and the metal grated unpleasantly against the flagstones. It used to live outside and was purely for washing clothes, back when there were several people in the house. Now, it mostly washed Mercedes.

"I really don't see the point in you taking a bath when you're just going to get grubby again in an hour," Julia smiled and pinched Mercedes' cheek.

After Julia had successfully heated a couple of deep pails of water and poured them into the washtub, she helped her granddaughter shed her hole-pocked favorite nightgown and with a theatrical groan, lifted her small body up and into the water. She pulled up a stool beside her, and began to wet a washcloth and rub the soap into it.

"Momma and Daddy went on an adventure again?" Mercedes asked.

Julia nodded once, forcing herself to be cheery as she agreed. "Yep. They'll be back soon."

"When will I be able to go with them?"

Her heart sank at the thought. "When you're older, maybe." She lifted Mercedes' hair – her father's hair, Julia's hair – out of the way and began to scrub Mercedes' back, feeling the knots of her spine as a ripple under her knuckles.

"When's older? I'll be older tomorrow."

"When a puff of wind won't blow you over and you're taller than me," Julia answered, plucking one of Mercedes' arms above her head to continue scrubbing. Their whole bodies rocked with the motion and the uneven legs of her stool tapped out her rhythm underneath her.

"Will I be tall like Momma?"

Julia clucked her tongue. "I don't think you're destined to have any high shelves in your house," she said. "You'll be like me and your Daddy."

"So I'll be older sooner, then."

Julia chuckled. "I suppose so, yes." She rinsed her off and rung out the washcloth, draped it over the side, and handed Mercedes the soap. With both hands behind her back, she helped Mercedes lower herself backward until her entire mop of hair was dipped under the water. "Okay, now scrub." Mercedes contorted her arms above her head and with a toothy grin, rubbed the soap bar against her scalp. "Scrub!" she continued chanting until Mercedes giggled and dropped the soap. Again she lowered her and waved her back and worth a little, rinsing her hair. As she sat her up there was a huge slosh of water – her hair was thick already. "Very good. Time for the oil. Keep your hair healthy like Granna's." Julia reached behind her and uncorked the bottle, pouring some of the amber oil into her palm and working it into Mercedes' hair.

"Smells good," Mercedes giggled. She steadied herself by raising her knees and holding on to the sides of the tub.

"You say that every time."

"It's true every time!"

"Well that's good." Julia rinsed her hands off and sat back. "Let it sit for a little while."

"Can I have breakfast in the bath?"

"No, you may not have breakfast in the bath."

"Please? Please please please?"

"Fine. Stay here. Put your hands on this stool and don't take them away until I'm back – don't want you drowning in a foot of water." Julia stood.

Mercedes stretched her thin arms over to the stool. "Why would I do that? That's stupid."

"Doesn't mean it's not possible."

In the kitchen proper, Julia twitched this way and that like a nervous animal. Esteban had always done the cooking, for which she was grateful since she could barely boil an egg. It had always seemed boring and tedious to her. For lack of any other inspiration, she grabbed a chunk of cheese and discarded the wax wrapper, walking back to the tub. Mercedes withdrew her hands so she could sit back down.

"Here," she handed over the cheese.

Mercedes didn't seem to mind; her eyes – her mother's eyes, like two large wet stones – glimmered as they always did when it was mutually understood that something wouldn't be talked about to her parents. She and Julia had several secrets of that nature, mostly revolving around fire, helping with experiments not suitable for young children, and poor food choices.

Julia smiled as she watched Mercedes' legs wave back and forth in the water. "I love you," she cooed.

"Love you too, Granna."

"You know you remind me of a jaguar. Love the water, don't you?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Always in it every chance you get." She leaned over, baring her teeth, and chomped them close to Mercedes' nose in the imitation of a bite.

Mercedes mimicked her as she bit into the cheese, giggling again. 

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><p>Around half an hour later, Mercedes was out of the bath and insisting on drying herself this time. Julia held her hands up in surrender and wandered to the back door of the house to fetch in the laundry she'd left out from the previous day, drying on the line. After she yanked down Mercedes' too-big suspendered pants and a shirt, as she made to return inside she paused on the doorstep. Her gaze traveled around their acreage, hemmed in by the forest as much as the fence spiked with even crosses like toy jacks. She looked for two figures leaping over the fence, listened for the sound of hooves. Nothing.<p>

How long would her last children be gone? Would it be just one day this time, or five? Or would she never see them again? She never knew which it would be, and it had taken a long time for her to be comfortable with that uncertainty. Yet it was harder than ever before to let Léon and Amaranta go, lately, no matter how much she understood their reasoning and supported their cause. Things were different now. They had a child.

However, it was easier to accept the uncertainty of their return than it was to accept the plan of action should they not. Not that long ago, when his brothers and his father were gone and left just himself, 'Mara, Mercedes and Julia, he had instructed that should the two of them not be back by the fifth day, she was to pack up what she could and move herself and Mercedes into Klorva, where he'd purchased land and a house for just such an emergency. At the time, Julia had chided him on sinking so much money into such a thing, but they had both known that she was horrified by the reasoning behind it. She felt like her family was slowly being washed away by an insatiable tide.

Julia sighed, and listened to the contented whinnying and snorting of the horses. Rainclouds were blowing in from the east, sullying the sky with dark chalk. She was startled as a warm little hand slipped into her own; looking down, Mercedes had come to stand with her, her towel draped over her body like a huge cape. Her other hand was in her mouth and she looked out at the wilderness, too, saying nothing but – Julia suspected – understanding.

_Three more days, Léon,_ she thought, squeezing her granddaughter's hand.


	4. Chapter 4: Cruel Hypotheses

**Chapter 4: Cruel Hypotheses**

On the third night, Léon and Amaranta had been unable to avoid a solitary eight-meter-class Titan that seemed to have followed a shallow river upstream from the plains into the woods they were using as cover. It seemed to be looking around it into the woods for something. Its behavior was mindless yet unusual – all Titans they'd hitherto encountered had been more like pack animals than solitary hunters – and it seemed as surprised by them as they were by it.

With the help of their ropes tied to their saddles, they'd succeeded in binding first the Titan's legs to immobilize it, followed swiftly by lassoing each of its arms and securing them to the thickest trees they could reach. This left its huge yet light mass on its belly in the river, diverting the water's course out of the bed and into the forest either side. It thrashed its head and hissed into the water, its limbs threatening to break the ropes that bound it. Light from the waning crescent moon was barely enough to go by, and turned the Titan's movements into more shadow than body.

"Decapitating didn't work last time," 'Mara said as they paced on their horses near its head.

"I remember. Everything we cut seems to regenerate," Léon agreed. "There has to be a more precise, more sure way of killing them. Right now all the Survey Corps can do is slow them down, or decapitate and hope." He directed his horse to jump over the Titan's strained arm, and walked as close as he dared to its upper back. "Our children cannot continue this war with a dossier of nothing but hope."

Whenever they could – whenever their lives weren't in jeopardy – they would try to test theories on a Titan or two. Even if it was mere observation, they'd gather what information they could before it became too risky and they had to flee or kill. Their methods often involved blinding or otherwise incapacitating the Titan long enough to quite literally shred it to pieces with their horses and swords, and over the past year or two as their relationship with the Scouting Legion became stronger they'd begun to try to narrow down what it was that finally killed them in the end.

Their focus now rested on the neck area and spinal cord – or what they could see of what constituted their spinal cord, since often it evaporated too quickly upon death. At some point, something in the cord was severed and that spelt the end, but where precisely that was unclear. The last few Titans they'd hunted had been the recipient of a systematic travel of the blow of Léon's sword from the spine's tail upward. The one he stood over now would have its spine severed on the nape of its neck – the only area they hadn't tested. 'Mara on horseback watched from its head, one rifle resting in her lap and the other in her hands ready to riddle the entire length of spine with so much buckshot that none of it could heal. They could never be too cautious.

Léon dismounted from his horse onto the Titan's back, which rocked its shoulders in its attempt to dislodge him. His sword was drawn and he tried to keep his footing. One of the trees that secured its arms began to crack and split, and the noise echoed around in the clearing.

"Léon, hurry," 'Mara insisted, bringing the rifle in her hands up to eye level.

Léon struck once, but an angle he hadn't intended due to the Titan's bucking.

"Léon!"

He tried again, seeking the consistently right-angled cut he'd performed on the others, but another buck created the same effect. A wedge of the Titan's neck sluiced off into the water and the entire body fell suddenly still.

"Is it…" he heard 'Mara begin.

"I think so," Léon agreed in disbelief. He rapidly tried to replay what he'd done but the body was already beginning to decay. The heat and steam forced him off the Titan's back and his feet began to sink into its flesh. He grabbed his horse's reins and bent to rinse his sword in the calve-high river.

"What did you do?"

Léon was about to answer her when a large shadow blotted out what little light they had, descending on 'Mara's back. "Behind you!" he yelled.

The words barely finished leaving his mouth and 'Mara had turned ever so slightly, as if to assess her opponent, and then seemed to fall from her horse – one hand on its bridle and one in a stirrup kept her and the rifle that'd been in her hand from the water. The huge dark mass skimmed over her horse's ears and fell toward Léon, who scrambled out of the way with his own horse as it landed on the Titan's corpse.

Only when he was up in the saddle and the two of them had bolted to the treeline did he stop to look at the mass. It was another Titan, and far from being concerned with the humans it was hellbent on devouring what remained of the eight-meter class they'd just slain. The steam disturbed its stringy dark hair and muffled the noise of teeth and nail tearing through meat, and made it difficult to tell its size though Léon concluded that it was smaller and wirier than average.

'Mara had her rifle pointed at the new arrival and cocked it. Léon reached out a hand as best he could with their troubled horses and lowered it. He felt like he was reaching through their collective fear. "Wait," he said.

"We should leave," 'Mara's tightened voice said.

"It's not interested in us, look."

As what little remained of the dead Titan floated away on the river, restoring the water to its original path, the newcomer rose into a crouch on its back legs and stared at them with huge, pure black eyes set into a contorted, demonic face. Blood dripped from its jagged teeth and strips of flesh dissipated to nothing between its long nails. It did not move toward them, however.

"It would have eaten us by now if that's what it had wanted," Léon continued.

"It is a Titan, right?" 'Mara seemed to ask of herself more than him. "It must be. But why does it seem to have intelligent thought?"

Léon did not have an answer for her.

A few more moments that felt like hours went by in which the trio stared at each other, none of them seeming to know what to do. Then, the Titan snarled loudly at them, startling their horses into rearing and skittering. As they calmed them Léon watched as the Titan turned nimbly in the river and sprang into the trees on the opposite side, disappearing into them.

"What just happened?" 'Mara asked as the calls of the Titan died away into the woods. "Why did it spare us?"

"I don't know." Léon thought back to when they'd first stumbled into the eight-meter class, and how the Abnormal Titan had seemed to jump out of the shadows like it'd been there waiting all along.

"You don't suppose that Titan had something to do with the one you killed moving even at night? It seemed to be looking for something, and why was it all the way out here by itself?" 'Mara speculated, reading his mind. "What if it lured the other one here?"

"I love you my darling, but that seems a little far-fetched even for you. Let's just concentrate on the fact that we're alive," Léon said.

They retreated farther into the trees, but in light of this new Titan their comforting shadows and closeness had been diminished. Léon and 'Mara kept looking around them, expecting there to be yet another Abnormal Titan lying in wait for them.

"Léon," 'Mara began slowly. She got down from her horse to check it for injuries and the security of its tackle. "That Titan…it could be important to the cause. I've never heard of or seen any like that – traveling at night, potentially luring another for food, sparing humans. There was something in its eyes. What if we were to pursue it?"

"To what end?" He got down and began to do the same for his horse.

"To study it, of course, if not capture it. It's only just left, so it may not be that difficult to catch up if we hurry."

Léon stepped over tree roots to meet 'Mara between his and her horses. His eyes adjusted to take in her face. "My love, that could keep us out here for who knows how many more days. I agree with you and would relish the opportunity to study – you know I do." He stepped forward and ran his hands down her arms, holding them lightly at the elbows as if to keep her from bolting. "But we would be gone that much longer from Mercedes. Not to mention that the Titan may not decide to spare us a second time."

"You know more than anything I want to go home to our little girl," 'Mara said, her face frowning as if she was about to cry. Her hand rose and held the side of his face, warm and slightly damp. "But you were right – we can't just leave a dossier of hope for her to go by. We can't offer only cruel hypotheses. This may be our only chance to discover something concrete – crossing paths with this Titan is a stroke of good fortune that we'd be foolish to pass up. Isn't the risk worth it if it means we can pass on crucial information to the Survey Corps, and she'll stand a better chance of survival?"

Léon frowned and averted his gaze. "This feels like a cruel hypothesis of its own," he said sadly.

"Yes. But the truest ones often can be." 

* * *

><p><strong>A Note from the Author:<strong> Some of you may recognize the description of the Abnormal Titan Leon and 'Mara just encountered - it is indeed intended to be Ymir's Titan form, in the early years when she was wandering alone outside Wall Maria.


	5. Chapter 5: Home

**Chapter 5: Home**

It was mid-afternoon on the fifth day, and she was helping Mercedes onto the back of Sabine, the youngest and darkest foal. That was when Julia knew in her heart that her son and his wife were not coming back.

Odd how that worked, Julia mused. One minute she was confident in her son's promise, held hope – and the next the reality had settled into her bones like winter's cold. Without really thinking about it, even, as though someone had simply shut a door. Stranger still was that she did not yet feel remorse or grief or fear. Instead her pragmatism was taking over, beginning to write a list in her head of things to pack, what to dress in for the journey, people to contact.

As she slowly led the graceful Sabine by the bridle out of the stable and into the yard, a smile grew on her face – one that Esteban used to tell her she always had in her darkest, most resolute moments. "Sweetness," she said to Mercedes, "How would you like to take a trip to the city with Granna?"

Mercedes leaned forward until her tiny body rested against Sabine's neck, her shiny black mane against her cheek. "What about Mommy and Daddy?"

"They're…" Julia trailed off. She hadn't thought about how she was going to tell Mercedes. "They want us to go ahead of them and scout it out, unpack everything and wait for them there," she said. She placed a hand on Mercedes' back. "It'll be like going on our own adventure, hmm?"

Out of the corner of her eye she watched Mercedes become thoughtful for a moment, as if she'd been told a difficult word and asked what it meant. Julia wondered if she could see the truth.

"When should we leave?" she asked, a determined look on her face. Julia had her answer.

Julia's smile grew wider and she blinked back the sting of a tear. She rubbed her back. "That's my brave girl. If we pack up everything we need this afternoon, we'll leave tonight. It will probably take us a couple of nights to reach Wall Maria."

After a few more minutes of walking the horse, curving it around so that they were directed back toward the house, Mercedes asked, "Will we ever come back home?"

Julia didn't hesitate. "Home is wherever you feel loved, Mercedes. It needn't have walls or a roof. But yes, maybe we will come back here someday." 

* * *

><p>Side by side on horseback, Léon and Amaranta hurtled through the forest in the direction they suspected the 'Dancing Titan', as they'd decided to call it, had gone. They could hear the crashing of disturbed tree limbs and great yowls even over the thundering of the horses' hooves. The chase was invigorating.<p>

"'Mara! This is where I thought our jaguar might be!" Léon called, recognizing the territory and the irony. They grinned at one another. "Perhaps we'll find it, too!"

"Maybe we will! We have had an awful amount of luck, you and I!" she called back, her lovely face so joyous.

_Lucky as a pair of shooting stars,_ Léon thought. 

* * *

><p><strong>A Note From the Author: Final chapter! Thanks so much for reading!<strong>


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